WHY WE CARE

Plugged In exists to shine a light on the world of popular entertainment while giving you and your family the essential tools you need to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which we live. Through reviews, articles and discussions, we want to spark intellectual thought, spiritual growth and a desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

<div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div>

YOUR STORIES

Family uses Plugged In as a ‘significant compass’

"I am at a loss for words to adequately express how much it means to my husband and me to know that there is an organization like Focus that is rooting for us. Just today I was reading Psalm 37 and thinking about how your ministry provides ways to 'dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.' We have two teenagers and an 8-year-old in our household...Plugged In has become a significant compass for our family. All three of our kids are dedicated to their walk with Christ but they still encounter challenges. Thanks for all of your research and persistence in helping us navigate through stormy waters."

Plugged In helps college student stand-up for his belief

"Thanks for the great job you do in posting movie and television reviews online. I’m a college freshman and I recently had a confrontational disagreement with my English professor regarding an R-rated film. It is her favorite movie and she wanted to show it in class. I went to your Web site to research the film’s content. Although I had not seen the movie myself, I was able to make an educated argument against it based on the concerns you outlined. The prof said that she was impressed by my stand and decided to poll the whole class and give us a choice. We overwhelmingly voted to watch a G-rated movie instead! I’ve learned that I can trust your site and I will be using it a lot in the future.”

Plugged In brings ‘Sanity and Order’ to Non-believer

“Even though I don’t consider myself a Christian, I find your Plugged In Web site useful and thought-provoking. No one reviews movies like you do. Instead of being judgmental, you put entertainment ‘on trial.’ After presenting the evidence, you allow the jury of your readers to decide for themselves what they should do. In my opinion, you bring sanity and order to the wild world of modern day entertainment. Keep up the good work!”

Mom thinks Plugged In is the ‘BEST Christian media review site’

"Our family doesn't go to the movies until we go online and check out your assessment of a given film. I think this is the BEST Christian media review website that I've found, and I recommend it to my family and friends. Keep up the good work!"

SUPPORT THE WORK OF PLUGGED IN

Our hope is that whether you're a parent, youth leader or teen, the information and tools at Plugged In will help you and your family make appropriate media decisions. We are privileged to do the work we do, and are continually thankful for the generosity and support from you, our loyal readers, listeners and friends.

Sign up for a campaign update

Vikings

We hope this review was both interesting and useful. Please share it with family and friends who would benefit from it as well.

TV Series Review

I would've made a horrible Viking. I'm not very good with a battle-ax. All the drinking and bad hygiene would get to me after a while. And I'm pretty sure I'd get sick on those stormy ocean voyages.

Vikings, History Channel's first scripted drama, does a fantastic job of depicting just how much I would've loathed being a Norseman back in the early Middle Ages. And the details of that depiction make it an astronomically problematic show. Why? Well, if History Channel's right about how these Vikings lived back in the day (and, really, given its impressive track record with such shows as Ancient Aliens, how could it be wrong?), their lives were soaked in violence, sex, filth and booze.

Plugged In would have had an extraordinarily low readership in ancient Norway.

Long on Boats, Short on Mercy

Not that there weren't men who occasionally aspired for something better than plunder and wenches and mead. Take Ragnar Lothbrok, for instance. Oh, he can pillage with the best of 'em, but he's always been more of an explorer than a fighter. And thanks to some nifty innovations, he's discovered some brand new places to plant their fierce flag—most critically a lush, green isle filled with riches and reasonably docile Christians. He's recently grown fond of Francia (now called France), too. After all, how can you keep Vikings down on the farm after they've seen Paris?

Vikings is, in a way, Game of Thrones lite. While there are no dragons and few "sexposition" scenes (HBO's notorious habit of including gratuitous sex scenes in the midst of dry dialogue), there are mountains of other kinds of visceral sex amid all the vivid violence. Courtships tend to be fast and physical. And any random episode is liable to feature a rape or beheading or some manner of torture. Often all three.

Life is not sacred here. It's not even particularly important. And while you get the sense that what we see onscreen feels more or less reflective of the spirit of the age (if not the historical letter), that still doesn't make it any easier or any more advisable to watch.

Not Much Faith in This Show

Oddly, maybe, in the midst of all the salaciousness, sadism and gore, we see evidence of deeper stirrings: the desire to provide for wife and family, the value of friendship and community, the need to dream big. We see, too, a yearning for spirituality. Vikings shows us a time when the heroic Norse myths ran headlong into the curious faith of Christianity and its loving Savior.

We know how this clash of beliefs ended, of course. Eventually the Vikings converted and settled down, with the old gods fading away to myth and memory. The History Channel seems to express some wistfulness for those bygone gods, though. And the Christians we see here are often far more cowardly or just as bloodthirsty as their pagan adversaries.

The monk Athelstan is a Christian struggling with his faith, maybe especially so because he was (abortively) crucified by his fellow Christians. It's not, apparently, a very historical take, and some have suggested the show is extrapolating views that Christianity was and is a violent, hypocritical mess. But Christianity Today's Paul D. Glader notes that even in that awful crucifixion scene, Athelstan prays to God in Latin—suggesting that even if his fellow Christians aren't showing any sort of Christ-like love, his eyes are still fixed on his Savior.

Will Ragnar or any of his compatriots ever convert? If Vikings were being true to history, it would be likely. In this salacious expression of Viking lore, though, it seems ... less so. There may simply be too much killing and maiming and rape and torture to perpetuate for any solid spiritual resolution to wriggle its way into the carnage.

Advertisement

Positive Elements

Spiritual Content

Sexual Content

Violent Content

Crude or Profane Language

Drug and Alcohol Content

Other Negative Elements

Conclusion

Pro-social Content

Objectionable Content

Summary Advisory

Plot Summary

Christian Beliefs

Other Belief Systems

Authority Roles

Profanity/Violence

Kissing/Sex/Homosexuality

Discussion Topics

Additional Comments/Notes

Episode Reviews

+

Vikings: Apr. 14, 2016 "Death All 'Round"

Ragnar, suffering horribly from drug withdrawal, continues to lead his Viking horde through the Frankish wilderness toward Paris and beyond. Along the way, atrocities abound. Blood, death and implied rape is in evidence. A child is found dead in the river, and another kid just gives a shrug and a "who cares?" We see the head of a decapitated man sitting on a table. A man is shot in the chest with a crossbow. Someone places a ring on the bolt still sticking out of a dying man's chest. Also, a woman loses her baby and is surrounded with bloody rags. Ragnar retches repeatedly and seems to vomit up a spider.

The king of Francia arranges for sexual trysts with both a man and his sister. We see bare backs in another sex scene. And a man is sexually rebuffed by his pregnant wife.

Prayers and sacrifices are offered to Odin and Thor. A woman is forced to drink the blood of a sacrificial rabbit. The Pope shows off what he claims is part of Jesus' crown of thorns. Beggars and merchants sell portions of the "true cross." Someone has visions.

+

Vikings: 2-19-2015

"Mercenary"

Ragnar and his band of Vikings travel to Wessex to begin the process of settling there. But when they arrive, the local king informs them that they'll have to fight the current rulers/usurpers of Mercia first.

Several Vikings are killed by arrows before their boats ever get to shore. Swords and axes level the human landscape in a bloody affair. (Example: the camera looks up at an assaulting Viking as he lands a fatal blow on his victim's head.) We witness flirting and kissing and sensual dancing. A man wrestles with what to do now that he's made two women pregnant. (Someone advises him to marry one and keep the other as a concubine.) People drink alcohol. Someone says "a--" once.

Lagertha is given an enigmatic prophecy by a blind soothsayer. A Wessex knight grumbles about fighting alongside pagans, telling a bishop that he can't get his head around a world with one God and many gods. "One of us must be right," he fumes. "The Lord sayeth, 'I am the way, the truth and the light," the bishop confirms. Ragnar expresses skepticism toward magic, and he tells the knight, "You can neither hide from your God or from ours." There is a reference to John the Baptist. A woman asks to see Athelstan's crucifixion wounds, then kisses them in apparent piety.

+

Vikings: 3-10-2013

"Wrath of the Northmen"

All manner of other mystical and mythical talk is traded among the Vikings. And when Ragnar and his crew happen upon an undefended monastery, the monks plead and pray, but are beaten and hacked to death anyway. Not all die, however. Ragnar finds a survivor hiding in a treasure-filled chapel, clutching the Gospel of St. John.

"Of all the treasures I see in this place, you chose to save this," Ragnar says. "Why?"

"Because without the Word of God, there is only darkness," the monk answers. Ragnar spares him (to sell him as a slave, he says), forbidding anyone to touch him. Rollo, Ragnar's brother, takes his resulting frustration out on a crucifix hanging on the wall, smashing it to bits. "This is what we give your God," he hisses.

Ragnar stabs a man in the neck, and blood squirts. A woman is raped onscreen, with sexual motions shown. Participating in a ruthless setup, another woman hits a man repeatedly after he strips off his pants and hops into bed with her. Because she's a noblewoman, he is subsequently stabbed by guards before (it's implied) getting cut to pieces. Another man is executed by having his face shoved into a burning pit (offscreen). Ragnar and his wife beat each other, telling their son that they're "just having an argument." The two also appear to be engaged in foreplay during the "argument."

Advertisement

Get weekly e-news, Culture Clips & more!

Plugged In Blog

Good media discernment is about guarding our eyes and hearts before we watch or listen. And it's also about grappling with the entertainment we do see or hear. That's why the Plugged In Blog is devoted to guarding, discussing and grappling.

Family Safety

Protecting our families today is more vital than ever. And by partnering with ClearPlay and Net Nanny, Focus on the Family hopes to point you to resources and tools that can help you navigate the entertainment world around you.